15 British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in the past month with a 8 of those being killed at the end of last week. The British press is covering it extensively with this cartoon in the Independent pointing some of the blame at Gordon Brown wearing a helicopter helmet, an allusion to the lack of helicopters in the possession of the British Army in Helmand Valley – one reason extended for the high number of casualties.

An article by Brigadier Allan Mallinson in the Daily Telegraph says Gordon Brown must put more boots on the ground. What’s more he says commanders on the ground wanted more helicopters but Gordon Brown didn’t send them. Lives could have been saved by using helicopters, he suggests, because there aren’t enough troops to dominate the ground or hold it once won in Helmand. Another article in the Telegraph reports how the shadow Defence Secretary has accused Brown of “catastrophically under equipping the armed forces”.

The Guardian says that despite the deaths, a poll shows that backing for the UK’s involvement in the war has risen. An ICM poll for the BBC and for the Guardian shows that 46% of British people support the war. 47% oppose it. The last time an ICM poll was conducted just 31% were in favour of the war – that has now risen 13 points. “People appear reluctant to turn against a conflict while soldiers are fighting and dying on the front line and the increasingly high profile nature of the war appears to be strengthening public backing,” the Guardian notes.

The micro blogging site Twitter - which allows users to post messages of 140 characters – was said to be instrumental in the recent Iranian protests. However an article in the Jerusalem Post says its role has been exaggerated. Robert Faris, the Director of the Harvard-based Berkman center for Internet and Society has said as such. The “brevity, lack of detail and ease with which it can be manipulated to send wrong information” are just some of the drawbacks. A major factor was not so much Twitter but the role of other new media. Blogs, Facebook pages devoted to Moussavi, satellite TV channels and other forms of news and information being sent into Iran by the internet were key. The Iranian regime had to contend with the powerful force of interactive online media which it couldn’t fully control.

Entertainment Weekly says it was a “wunderbar” weekend for comedian Sacha Baron Cohen whose latest mockumentary Bruno finished on the number one spot at the US box office this past weekend, grossing $30.4 million. However comparisons with Borat indicate that the film is unlikely to do as well. On the website of World Net Daily, we learn that an Islamist so-called “terrorist leader” was appalled to discover he featured in Bruno - a movie about an ostentatious Austrian gay television host. He learned just five days ago that he was depicted in the movie which shows full frontal male nudity and other shocking scenes. Apparently Sacha Baron Cohen called up the CIA looking for terrorists, ended up interviewing this man who is a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade in the West Bank. Baron Cohen said the movie would help the Palestinian cause, Ayman Abu Aita told Word Net Daily. He wanted to seduce the jihadist group into “kidnapping him so he could become famous”. Aita has threatened to sue Baron Cohen.

The New York Times carries an article entitled “How to start a company and kiss like Angelina…” Howcast media is a new website that’s creating a stir. The video-based content instructs users on how to do just about anything from fixing a leaky tap, putting up kitchen shelves to how to make love in your car or how to escape a bear attack…or perhaps how to escape an angry terrorist who appears in your ostentatious gay movie?!